( ) – On August 20, 1989, brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents inside their Beverly Hills, California, mansion. The Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story,” which premiered on the platform on September 19, is a nine-episode drama based on that crime. has learned that the Menendez brothers are aware of the series.
Although Lyle and Erik Menendez claimed during the trial that they had been abused by their father for years and that their mother had been indifferent to them, the prosecution did not believe their testimony and argued that they wanted to keep their parents’ estate. Both were condemned to life imprisonment in 1996.
Following the production based on the crime story, Cliff Gardner, one of the attorneys for Lyle and Erik Menendez, told that the brothers are aware of the series, in response to an email on Tuesday.
Gardner said that, according to his information, they had no involvement in the production.
Asked whether they have any input on how the show refers to them, particularly in the title, Gardner responded: “I’m pretty sure they do, although I haven’t been in contact with them since the show aired.”
Jose Menendez, a 45-year-old music executive at RCA Records, and his wife Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, 47, were killed in the brutal shooting inside their own home.
It was Lyle, the older brother, who called 911 and said, through tears, “Someone killed my parents.” The recording of the call, which was broadcast to the media and is part of the series, begins like this:
“Emergencies: —Beverly Hills, emergencies.
Lyle Menendez: —Yes.
Emergencies: —What’s happening?
Lyle Menéndez: —We are children of…
Emergencies: —What’s happening?
Lyle Menendez: —Someone killed my parents.
Emergencies: —What? Who? Are they still there?
Lyle Menendez: —Yes
Emergencies: —Did they shoot you?
Lyle Menéndez: —Yes (…)”
Although the Menendez brothers initially denied having killed their parents, they later admitted to having done so, although they denied that money was their motive. And in the first trial, which was televised, they gave details of their father’s alleged sexual abuse.
In 1995, their attorney Leslie Abramson said it was not murder because there was no malicious intent behind the act: She cited years of psychological and sexual abuse, and said the brothers killed out of fear. “If it’s fear and not malicious intent, it’s not murder,” she said, reported.
The argument that they should not be convicted of premeditated murder was based on the fact that they had acted in self-defense after enduring a lifetime of abuse from their father, and their mother doing nothing about it.
The prosecution, however, did not believe their testimony and claimed that the brothers had acted out of greed and wanted to profit from their parents’ estate, estimated at 13 million dollars.
The first trial was open to television and held in 1993 before two juries, each brother having a separate jury. It was declared a mistrial after both juries failed to reach a verdict in 1994.
The second trial was in 1996, and the jury made its decision after deliberating for three days. They were found guilty of first-degree murder.
Lyle Menendez, 56, and Erik Menendez, 51, are currently serving life sentences in the same California prison without the possibility of parole.
In May 2023, attorneys for the Menendez brothers claimed there was new evidence to show the convictions and life sentences should be vacated, according to court documents they filed.
Defense attorneys argued that two pieces of evidence countered prosecutors’ narrative and filed a petition for habeas corpus in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that a letter Erik sent to his cousin eight months before the killings details his father’s abuse.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted both lawsuits, told in a statement at the time: “We have received the habeas corpus petition in the Menendez matter and it is currently under review.”
Erik Menendez’s letter to his cousin Andy Cano, from December 1988, says: “It keeps happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now.”
The letter was discovered by José Menéndez’s younger sister and Andy’s mother, Marta Cano, who shared it with journalist Robert Rand in April 2018, reported.
That same month, he shared the letter with Erik Menendez’s former appellate attorney, Cliff Gardner, the court document states.
In the letter, Erik writes, “I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy. Every night I lie awake thinking it might come. I need to get it out of my head. I know what you said before, but I’m scared. You don’t know Dad like I do. He’s crazy. He’s warned me a hundred times not to tell anyone, especially Lyle. Am I a whiner? I don’t know if I’m going to get through this. I can handle it, Andy. I need to stop thinking about it.”
A review of court records shows the letter was not presented at either trial, the document says.
On the other hand, the other evidence that the defense attorneys took into account for their request is the testimony of Roy Roselló, former member of the youth music group Menudo, linked to the RCA record label, where Menéndez was an executive.
Rosselló claimed that José Menéndez sexually abused him when he was a teenager. The alleged assault was revealed in the documentary called “Menéndez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” which premiered in May 2023 on the Peacock platform.
“In sum, the new evidence not only demonstrates that Jose Menendez was a violent and brutal man who sexually abused children, but suggests that he was, in fact, continuing to abuse Erik Menendez in December 1988, just as the defense had argued all along,” says the court document that the Menendez brothers’ attorneys filed last year.
The lawyers therefore asked the court to either overturn the conviction and sentence against both men, or to allow the presentation of evidence and an evidentiary hearing when they can provide it, the letter said.
There is still no update on that request. “The court has ordered the State to respond in writing to the petition. The State has not yet responded; its response is due by the end of November,” Gardner told about the progress of the habeas corpus petition.
With information from , Taylor Romine, Abel Alvarado, Rafy Rivera.
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